South by Southwest, Seoul to Busan via Gyeongju

Myself, three co-Patriots and a bloody Canadian left Seoul at 7:40 Wednesday morning and set about an epic journey through southern South Korea. The plan was to first head to Gyeoungju, the historical center of the Korean peninsula, from there we would do some beaching in Busan, the second largest city and beach central.

We arrived and after finding a room we immediately set about getting ourselves some mopeds. This was the turning point where this trip began its skyward journey towards pure legend.

Nancy and I on Day 1 headed to our first tomb.

We hit the road and after situating ourselves we decided to try for our first historical sight in the area. Many Korean Kings, mostly from the Shilla Dynasty, are buried in the Gyeongju area. We sought out the most remote of the many Mound Tombs.
After a beautiful ride through the countryside where we regularly drew stares from the locals and navigated our way trough rice paddies we found the temple.

Tomb of King Gyeongdeok

Day 1 was great, we found the mopeds, found the temple, survived a rainstorm on the ride home, had a great Korean dinner, and were ready for some brews at the hotel.

I decided I wanted to be safe while drinking so, naturally, I wore my helmet the entire night.

How could Roman candles not be a good idea?
Our room had some gaudy furniture. I wore my helmet to protect myself from it.
And we drank in front of the lobby for a while.

We woke bright and early for the exciting day ahead of us. The plan was first to see Bulguksa Temple and then to make the 40+km. ride out to the coast.

The gardens leading up to the temple.
My Canadian friend, David, the villagers were terrified.
Bulguksa Temple.

We got some great hats at the temple.

The temple was beautiful. However, the road was calling and I was ready to answer. I wish I had pictures of the drive out to the coast but it was a windy mountain road and that would be unsafe.

These Pagodas caught our eye, so we stopped.
And saw this waterfall.
So I jumped in.

This nice Korean man invited us over to his family's campground and let us sit in his waterfall. he then tried to get us drunk, but we had to drive, so we continued. We made it to the sea and found a nice seafood restaurant where we indulged in some crab and sashimi. It was time to go back and see a few more sights.

Royal Inapchi Pond.

We returned our bikes that night. Then we partied. There are no cool pictures because I had to return my helmet with my bike. So I will move on to Busan and the beach.

Haeundae Beach, Busan, South Korea

There were seriously about 100,000 people at the beach. I fell in love about 493 times. I drank a couple twelve beers. We then proceeded to find our hotel and rest up for an eventful night.

No doubt one of the top ten meals I have ever eaten.

After an epic dinner we headed out to paint the town. The club we went to was called Soul Trane, but all the played was house music, if you were notice the theme of the day you will understand why I felt compelled to dance my ass off for about 4 hours. A few hours, a few drinks, and a few bars later we felt compelled to finally give it a rest. The next day I felt like death, which was great because we rode the KTX which goes 300 km an hour.

It was such the epic journey and so little time has passed since it ended that I cannot stop thinking about it. My travel companions were so legit I can't even explain it. I am really thankful that we all took so many pictures because this trip will be the model for my future endeavors that I am sure some of you readers will someday join me on.